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With the second annual Congressional Hockey Challenge just days away, the trash talk has started among last years losing club of lobbyists, who are promising a comeback against the reigning champions on the Members and staff team.

Jeffrey Kimbell of Jeffrey J. Kimbell & Associates said the K Streeters have regrouped and undergone extensive off-season training that will turn the tables on the lawmakers team, which bested the lobbyists 6-4 in the inaugural game last year.

In addition to mountain climbing and power lifting, Kimbell joked that the lobbyists have been listening to positive-thinking records of the great Swami Baha, a reference to the success secret of a character in the hockey movie Slap Shot.

An impressive roster of K Streeters and Members of Congress and their staff are signed up to face off at the game, which is slated for Tuesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Fort DuPont Ice Arena. The event raises money for the Fort DuPont Ice Hockey Club, an inner-city youth ice hockey program based in Washington, D.C.

Brad Card of Dutko Worldwide; John Cline and Nelson Litterst of the C2 Group; Bob Filippone and Steve Tilton of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; and Nick Lewis of UPS are among the lobbyists suiting up to battle Members of Congress and their staff.

John Goody Goodwin of the National Rifle Association and Kimbell will also be on the K Street team, whose coach/publicist is Jonathan Grella of Securing Americas Future Energy.

Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), along with last years MVP, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), are also poised to take to the ice.

Team lobby has its eye on Weiner in the goalie position, according to Kimbell who has been perfecting his super fast Ukrainian Howitzer slap shot all year.

Its possible that I [will] put Congressman Weiner back into the goalie cage with a shot from the point, Kimbell said.

Duffields Endgame. Steven Duffield, former policy director and counsel for Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), has hung his own shingle. The former Republican National Committee senior staffer and corporate litigator at Mayer Brown has formed Endgame Strategies. The public affairs firm is focusing on reaching out to Republican leadership, the House and Senate Judiciary committees and clients looking for Senate Republicans to use their power to filibuster to hold up legislation.

Free[dom] Songs. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (Mich.), flanked by representatives from musicians and civil rights groups, on Tuesday framed the ongoing battle over radio royalties for musicians as a struggle akin to slavery.

Conyers said musicians are subject to protections under the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlaws involuntary servitude. When you tell somebody that youre benefitting from their work product and theres no compensation, it kind of hearkens back to the great problem that was not resolved when our country was formed, he said.